4 1/2 STARS!

The blackmailer might have been caught, but the fallout is still wounding many! Jules Bennet takes us along for the ride as she writes the next riveting story in the Texas Cattleman's Club: Blackmail series. We know who the culprit was now, but do we know everyone that had a hand in helping him? We're going to find out! We recognize many of the familiar faces from previous books in the series and get to share in events from past couples as Gabe and Chelsea fight their attraction to each as long as they can before giving into temptation and taking us along on their sexy love affair!

Security specialist Gabe Walsh knows he's guilty simply by association by a lot of folks in Royal, Texas as it comes to light that his uncle was the blackmailer known as Maverick who has been terrorizing members of the Texas Cattleman's Club for months now. He can't believe his own family was up to such shenanigans, but he didn't have anything to do with it! He only hopes he can use his upcoming time planning his friend's wedding to make Chelsea see that he's innocent!

Chelsea Hunt was one of the most damaged of all in his uncle's scheme, and she's convinced he was the accomplice the police are still searching for that helped with taking and leaking the nude pics of her. Being thrown together with him in the planning of this wedding is not making her happy ... because the more time she spends with him, the more she has to admit that he's actually a really nice guy ... and she no longer believes he could be guilty!

Passion, lust, mistrust, and apprehensions mixed with little bit of Christmas, a lot of wedding, and eventually an abundance of emotions.
This story is the last book in the series, yet can be easily read as a standalone novel. There's a touch of intrigue with the blackmailing maverick who has devastated so many lives in the town and the fact that his conspirator is still unknown and at large, puts everyone on the edge. The bit of suspense gives another layer to the story and a good reason for a conflict between the hero and the heroine but is by no means the main focus in the tale. That honor goes to the sizzling hot affair that kindles between Gabe Walsh and Chelsea Hunt. It was supposed to be a fling but it turns into a thing as the kindling flares, and emotions take root.
This is a wildly entertaining story filled with passion that turns into affection as Gabe and Chelsea get to know each other better and finds out about the deeper layers of their personalities, hopes, and goals. The author delivers just what I expected and was in the mood for - a lot of fun banter, ardor, swooning, sighs, and ends with a smile
~ Four Spoons

Gabe Walsh is fighting for his reputation and that of his security company after his only relative a uncle is found to have been the one terrorizing the town of Royal where he lives. The Uncle's dead now but he's left a mess in his wake that Gabe is trying to clean up. Chelsea Hunt is someone Gabe admires and likes and she was one of the biggest victim of his uncles. Gabe's attracted to her but he doesn't trust in love anymore after the last person he loved turned out to be a spy working against him in his former job with the FBI. Chelsea has her own demons when it comes to love and trust. Her mother walked out on the family and her dad died of a broken heart. When they decide to have a fling for a few weeks while helping to get their friends wedding together what could go wrong? They aren't relationship people right? I liked this story. It's a continuation of a series by other Harlequin desire authors. It's a little hard to get into without reading the other previous books but the basics are covered well enough on history to get the gist. Gabe and Chelsea are perfect for each other. I loved watching them get together and learn to trust again. It's a quick read with a little over 200 pages. Perfect for the hectic holidays when you need to get away from reality a bit and sink into a juicy romance.

Gabe and Chelsea have reason to not get along. Gabe's uncle was the blackmailer, and that same uncle was responsible for sharing naked photos of Chelsea with the entire town.

So, understandably, there is some tension between them. And, there is also attraction, which makes the tension a little harder to navigate. Add in the fact that they are the best man and maid of honor at the same wedding, and live in the same small town, and they are unable to avoid one another.

Good thing neither of them really wants to avoid the other.

Jules Bennett is a favorite author of mine, and books like this are the reason. I enjoyed the pacing of the story, the characters and I loved the secondary characters. They all blended nicely into the story.

This was a quick read, but one with depth and emotion. I developed a connection to the characters and I recommend this title.

I enjoyed this one. The chemistry between Gabe and Chelsea was hot and the pacing of the story was well done. Having not read any of the others in the series, I was probably missing a lot of information about the blackmail situation but it didn't seem like it. The author got me very invested in seeing who Rusty's accomplice was.

The Best Man, Gabe, was wonderful! He was terribly alpha, wanting to protect Chelsea from all the trouble caused by his uncle. I had only read two (I think) of the previous books in the series, and it still seemed a bit of a let down on how it played out. You don't find out the accomplice until the epilogue, and it was like, oh... That's it!?! But, the story in itself was great (I really like Ms. Bennett's voice) and the romance was sweet. Gabe was unbelievably generous and I really liked Chelsea's idea for helping teens.